Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LONGRIDER (Long Autonomy E-bike through enhanced Regenerative Braking)
Berichtszeitraum: 2018-09-01 bis 2018-12-31
Global bike sharing market is expected to reach 5,000 M€ in 2019 with a strong relevance of European and US markets. In the case of Europe, although there are systems in place in at least 470 cities, the majority of bike sharing services are public and subsidized by cities since the direct contribution of users is not enough to make the business profitable. The recent appearance of large newcomers in the bike sharing industry relying on “dockless” bikes reduces the administrative burden for operations-start and are outlining a roadmap towards potential profitability without any need of subsidizing. In this line, several “dockless” e-scooter, e-bike and conventional bike companies are running on VC-money for growth purposes. However, it should be noted that experiences in the conventional “dockless” bike-sharing arena reflect this is a risky approach when the business is solely based on capital flow and there is not a solid plan in place to make the service profitable eventually, and several companies have already filed for bankruptcy.
One of the main challenges of dockless sharing services is assuring a wide availability of vehicles, especially with respect to the vehicle’s battery load. In fact, vehicle recharging accounts for the main operational cost in this kind of services.
One of the main challenges of dockless sharing services is assuring a wide availability of vehicles, especially with respect to the vehicle’s battery load. In fact, vehicle recharging accounts for the main operational cost in this kind of services.
LONGRIDER is a patented control system for e-bikes that provides extended battery autonomy by supporting the cyclist only when necessary and by applying extensive and efficient regenerative braking. By cleverly controlling the energy use (deliver and recover), the feeling for the cyclist is that of continuously riding on flat terrain irrespective of the terrain slope. In this manner, LONGRIDER increases e-bike autonomy up to 5 times and reduces service operational costs by 50%. This also allows for a more sustainable operative in LONGRIDER (with less vans touring around the city to swap e-bike batteries) as well as for improved safety due to a continuously controlled e-bike speed.
Next steps involve industrialization of the current LONGRIDER prototype to put in place a 200 e-bike fleet in a pilot program. Once the operation rationale is well adjusted in a city and a university campus environment, the system will be extended for further implementations in other cities around Europe.